The Department of Communication seeks to hire a tenure-track assistant professor specializing in Intercultural Communication/Global Studies or closely related field. The successful candidate will be a strong teacher and scholar grounded in social science. Ph.D. or ABD (degree completion by January 2010) in Communication specializing in Intercultural / Global Studies or closely related field required. Regional expertise in Africa, ASIA or Latin America desired. Applicants must submit their vitas, letter of application and writing sample online at https://www.jobs.uwm.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=50715 Send teaching credentials and three letters of recommendation, one addressing applicant’s classroom experience / teaching expertise to: Prof. Nancy Burrell, Chair, Department of Communication, UW-Milwaukee, PO Box 413, Milwaukee, WI 53201. Review of Credentials begins October 15, 2008 and continues until the position is filled. UWM is an AA/EEO employer.

Does the institutionalized usage of hyphenated-nationalities help, hurt, or distract a country from more pertinent issues?

America is a country of immigrants.

One side of the American street prides itself on not seeing the person as a combination of ancestral ethnicities but, instead, each individual becomes a culmination of their life experiences.

The other side of the American street takes pride in the achievements of their ancestors and believe their ancestor’s struggles, sacrifices and oppressions are intrinsic to who they are and how America treats/sees them.

This boulevard of contrasting views pervades most aspects of American social laws and policies. Almost every social issue faced by our judicial and/or legislative bodies, on national, state and local levels, have an ethnic/racial purpose or impact and we spend inordinate amounts of time debating, protesting, defending, and balancing these facets.

There is the beginnings of a new movement within our country to re-think the use of ethnic qualifiers to the American nationality. African-American, Hispanic-American, or
your-ethnicity-goes-here-DASH-American is of questionable benefit to the nation’s social fabric and, debatably of course, does more harm to national unity than good. This same debate was part of the nation’s conversation at the turn of the 20th century when it was the German-Americans, Irish-Americans, and Polish-Americans that qualified their nationality.

In many aspects, where America goes, so goes the world. Before any other country steps into this pit of social identities, there are some questions the people of that country should ponder:

Are institutionalized hyphenated-nationalities good for a country’s unity and socio-mentality or is it an institutionalized contradiction to the term “nationality”?

Can you belong to more than one country and, if so, what happens when the two countries have conflicting policies?

Can you maintain the cultures and customs of your ancestral homelands while still assimilating fully into your birth country?

Does the use of hyphenated-nationalities proclaim an aversion to the idea of assimilation?

Is the use of the hyphenated qualification a two edged sword that cuts both ways? In other words, can you expect your country to treat you different because of your hyphenation but treat you the same despite your hyphenation?

What are the ideas of migration researchers in these points? What influence does the use of hyphenated labels by migration researchers have?